(although some few years after), established in any part of Great Britain. Such was the origin of the tin-plate manufactory in England, where, at this day, it is in greater perfection than in any other country in Europe. BLEACHING. Flax and hemp were employed in the fabrication of cloth many years ago, and in those early times such cloth was highly esteemed; it must therefore, long before that period, have been discovered that these fabrics were improved in colour by exposure to the action of the atmosphere. The effect of hot water in whitening brown linen, would also soon arrest the attention of mankind; and when it became a practice with the early inhabitants of Asia to employ certain earths and alkaline plants in the operations of washing and scouring their garments, the whitening, as well as the detersive properties of these vegetables, could not fail to be observed, and, by degrees, would naturally occasion the introduction of regular processes for bleaching; and that this art was practised very early, is, I think, says Parkes, evident from the great progress which it had made in the beginning of the Christian era. That the ancients had learnt some method of rendering their linen extremely white, may be supposed from many remarks which are interspersed among their writings. Homer speaks of the garments of his countrywomen, in a way that leaves no doubt of their being clothed, occasionally at least, in white vestments. "Each gushing fount a marble cistern fills, Modern bleaching, however, originated with the Dutch, whose linens were the most esteemed of any in Europe. CALICO PRINTING. The coat above alluded to was probably of cotton or linen; at any rate, we are informed, that more than 3000 years ago, a shrewd matron tied a scarlet thread round the hand of one of Tamar's children ;* and Homer, who flourished 900 years B.C., speaks of the variegated cloths of Sidon as very magnificent productions. + An historian who wrote more than 400 years before the Christian era, when describing the nations which inhabited Caucasus, a mountain extending throughout the regions of Georgia and Armenia, affirms, that by means of vegetables ground and diluted with water, these people adorned their cloth with the figures of *Genesis xxxviii. 28. +Iliad, lib. vi. line 289. various animals, and that the dyes were permanent which were thus obtained. Strabo, the Greek philosopher, who was contemporary with our Saviour, relates that the Indians wore flowered linens, and that India abounded with drugs, roots, and colouring substances, from which some very beautiful dyes were produced; and we know that the inhabitants of India used a purple and scarlet dye, resembling cochineal in colour, and in the manner of its production. Tyre, and other parts of Syria, have long been famed also for using purple and scarlet dye. The Tyrian dye has been noticed in song, poetry, and prose; and the late Lord Erskine wittily alludes to it in his epigram on the Sergeants of the Common Pleas: "Their purple garments come from Tyre, Thus it will appear, that the origin of calico-printing may be traced to the earlier ages, but to whom the invention belongs is lost in the mazes of obscurity. It does not appear that calico-printing was introduced into this country earlier than the reign of Elizabeth, when an act was passed to restrain the use of logwood in dyeing, on account of the fugitive nature of its colour.* SOAP. The first notice we have of soap is by one of the Hebrew prophets "Though thou wash thee with nitre and take much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me."-Jeremiah ii. 22. The term soap occurs repeatedly in the Old Testament, but Beckmann has proved, in his Treatise on Soap, that the Hebrew word Borith, which has been rendered soap, rather means alkali. Ætius, who flourished about the end of the fifth century, and was the first Christian medical writer, speaks of a black soap; and Paulus Ægineta, a Greek physician, who lived in the early part of the seventh century, says he made an extemporaneous soap from oil and the burned dregs of wine. It would be difficult to trace the onward progress of soap-making, step by step; but it is certain that the boiling of soap flourished in the seventeenth century, from the directions of that date for its preparation. ALUM. The first alum manufactured in England was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, at Gisborough in Yorkshire, by one Thomas Chaloner, an ancestor of Robert Chaloner, Esq. * In the time of Elizabeth, the nature of logwood was not understood; but now it has many important uses, and, when properly employed, is one of the most valuable articles used in dyeing. LAWNS, CAMBRICS, AND STARCHING. Shortly after the introduction of coaches, the knowledge and wear of lawns and cambrics were introduced by the Dutch merchants, who retailed those articles in ells, yards, &c., for there was not one housekeeper among forty durst buy a whole piece; and when the queen (Elizabeth) had ruffs made thereof, for her own princely wearing (for until then the kings and queens of England wore fine Holland in ruffs), there was none in England could tell how to starch them; but the queen made special means for some women that could starch, and Guilham's wife was the first starcher the queen had, and himself was the first coachman. Soon after this, the art of starching was first publicly taught in London by a Flemish woman, called Mistress Dinghen Vander Place; her usual price for teaching the art itself being four or five pounds, and twenty shillings additional for showing how to seethe the starch. At this period, the making of lawn ruffs was regarded by the populace as so strange and finical, that thereupon rose a general scoff and bywords, "that shortly they would make ruffs of spider's web." THE SILK TRADE. The ancients were but little acquainted with the use and manufacture of silk; they took it for the work of a sort of spider or beetle, who spun it out of its entrails, and wound it with its feet about the little branches of trees. It was in the Isle of Cos that the art of manufacturing it was first invented; and Pamphila, daughter of Platis, is honoured as the inventress. The discovery was not long unknown to the Romans. Silk was brought from Serica, where the worm was a native. They could not believe so fine a thread was the production of a worm— -it was a scarce commodity among them for many ages; it was even sold weight for weight with gold, insomuch that Vopiscus tells us, the Emperor Aurelian, who died A.D. 275, refused the Empress, his wife, a suit of silk, which she solicited of him with much earnestness, merely on account of its dearness; but at the present period, through the industry and enterprise of man, the produce of this tender worm (which a thoughtless individual would crush beneath his feet), serves to decorate the humble individual as well as the mighty monarch. Heliogabulus is said to be the first person who wore holosericum, i.e., a garment made all of silk. The Greeks of Alexander's army are said to have been the first who brought wrought silk from Persia into Greece, about 323 years before Christ: but its manufacture was confined to Berytus and Tyre, and from thence it was dispersed over the west. At length two monks, coming from the Indies to Constantinople in 555, brought with them great quantities of silkworms, with instructions for the hatching of their eggs, rearing, and feeding the worms, &c. Upon this, manufactures were set up at Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. It was brought to France a little before the time of Francis I., who brought it to Touraine. It appears there was a company of silk women in England so early as the year 1455; but these were probably employed in needle works of silk and thread. Italy supplied England and all other parts with the broad manufacture till 1489. In 1620, the broad silk manufacture was introduced into this country; and in 1661, the company of silk-throwsters employed above 40,000 persons. The revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, contributed in a great degree to promote the silk manufacture in this country, as did also the silk throwing machine, erected at Derby in 1719, which contained 26,586 wheels; one water-wheel moved the whole, and in a day and night it worked 318,504,960 yards of organized silk. Within about a century the secret has been found in France of procuring and preparing silk from the webs of spiders. The silk, however, from the spider is both inferior in strength and lustre. WEAVING. The vestments of the early inhabitants of the world discovered neither art nor industry. They made use of such as nature presented, and needed the least preparation. Some nations covered themselves with the bark of trees, others with leaves or bulrushes, rudely interwoven. The skins of animals were also universally used as garments, worn without preparation, and in the same state as they came from the bodies of the animals.* In process of time recourse was had to the wool of animals,† and this led to the further discovery of the art of uniting the separate parts into one continued thread, by means of the spindle; and this would consequently lead to the next step, the invention of weaving, which, according to Democritus, who flourished 400 years before Christ, arose from the art of the spider, who guides and manages the threads by the weight of her own body. That the invention of weaving was long prior to the time of Democritus, appears from the sacred writings. This is evident also from the answer which Abraham gave to the king of Sodom : "I will not," said he, “ take from a thread of the woof, even to a shoe latchet, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich." 66 "Inventress of the woof, fair Lina flings The flying shuttle through the dancing strings, * Lucretius, lib. vi. verse 1011. + Genesis xxxi. 19, and xxxviii. 12, 14. Ibid xiv. 23. Chronology informs us, linen was first made in England 1253. "Now began the luxurious to wear linen, but the generality woollen shirts." Table linen very scarce in England, in 1386. A company of linen weavers, however, came over from the Netherlands in that year, after which it became more abundant. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. To the bigotry of Spain, may be attributed the chief cause of our manufacturing greatness. The persecuted artisans came hither in flocks, and set up their looms under Edward VI. The reign of Mary impeded their settlement, her government acting under the influence of Philip II. of Spain, her husband, and the oppressor of the artisans. Elizabeth encouraged their return. But it was to the gibbets and wheels of the duke of Alva, that England is the most indebted. Scared by his inhumanity (his object being to make the authority of Philip as absolute in Flanders as in Spain, and to introduce the Inquisition), the Flemish manufacturers fled hither in shoals, and were received with hospitality. They repaid this polite kindness, by peopling the decayed streets of Canterbury, Norwich, Sandwich, Colchester, Maidstone, Spitalfields, and many other towns, with many active and industrious weavers, dyers, cloth-workers, linen-makers, silkthrowers, &c. They also taught the making of bays (baize), and other stuffs. It is worthy of remark, also, that from a herd of sheep, transported from the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, to Castile, in 1464, descended the sheep which produces the fine wool of Spain, so much in repute. The celebrated bishop Blaise invented the art of wool-combing, and thereby greatly improved the cloth manufacture. At Bradford, in Yorkshire, the wool-combers, &c., celebrate his nativity by processions with music, dancing, and festivity. WEAVING STOCKINGS. The stocking loom was first invented, about the year 1590, by the Rev. William Lee, of St. John's College, Cambridge. This gentleman being desirous of bringing the machine into general use, and unable to procure any remuneration from the government of his own country, he went over to Rouen, in Normandy, where some spirited individuals undertook to introduce him to the French minister, who gladly afforded him protection and patronage. He had previously applied to queen Elizabeth; and it must appear not a little extraordinary, that this monarch should have refused him her support, when it is recollected what patronage she afforded to Daniel Houghsetter, and to many other foreigners, whom she had invited from different places on the continent of Europe, to instruct her subjects in useful arts, and |